


the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise

by jostns



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Keith doesn't like talking about his feelings, M/M, Moon god Keith, Mutual Pining, Shiro does, Sun god Shiro, a light sprinkling of angst, it's gonna be super cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-06-18 12:25:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15485688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jostns/pseuds/jostns
Summary: Keith is the god of the moon. Shiro is the god of the sun. Over the course of a millennium, they fall in love.“They’ve always been there,” Keith said as if reading his mind. “Sometimes, things flourish in the dark instead of the light.” Keith looked over at him with something of a smirk on his face. He folded his hands over his chest and raised a brow at him. “Does that scare you?” The way he said it, Shiro thought maybe it should have. He looked back up into the sky, watching the twinkle of the sky above them.“No,” He said, “I’m not afraid of the dark.”





	1. The Rising

**Author's Note:**

> this is kinda a mess and doesn't have any structure but oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

☾☀

The sun rose in the east with a burst of orange light tumbling through the clouds.

 

It only took a few minutes for the light to spill into the sky, illuminating all that Keith had made dark. He stood, knowing it was almost time. _He'll be here soon._ Keith thought, watching the sun peak above the hills, bringing with it the warmth of a new day.  

 

Keith’s eyes burned and he recoiled from the light of the sunrise. His eyes were accustomed to the dark, to the pale glow of the moon. This sun didn't glow, so much as it blazed in hot glory. It scorched the earth, bringing Shiro with its heat.

 

Keith watched him approach. He wasn't quite sure what it was about the sun god that always caught his breath, but even after centuries, Keith found the air trapped in his lungs, his heart rate spiking in his chest from nothing more than a glance. Keith told himself it was the beginning of the day that ended his night that threw him off.  This morning light, that was unlike any star shine Keith ever knew, yet just as beautiful. But something deep inside always told him, _no._ _That's not it._ Some mornings he would catch himself staring, and think, _then what?_

 

Shiro and Keith were opposites in every manner. Keith was pale with the glow of the moon, his hair was as dark as the midnight sky, and he had eyes to match. Shiro was all sun-kissed, shimmering skin that the sunlight soaked in. His hair was white like the clouds, and tinged with a glow of yellow in this morning light. His eyes were bright with a lively energy that Keith could never understand.

 

As the god of the moon, Keith knew all of what the darkness could bring. He knew quiet nights with the chill of melancholy winds, he knew the stark silhouette of the moon against a night sky peppered with constellations. He understood the chatter of crickets and the songs of the owls that flourished in his night. But most of all, Keith understood the uncertainty of the dark and the weary pull of midnight that came with it.

 

Keith watched Shiro raise his arms up as the sun ascended higher and higher. He wondered how powerful he must have been to completely unshadow the hills around them. The sky was swirling with colours, bright oranges transitioning into pinks. It was Keith’s favourite sunrise. He liked the vividness that this brightness brought to the morning, the way it beckoned the world into a soft waking.

 

The sun was almost at its peak when Shiro turned towards where Keith was standing. Keith could see that Shiro was much taller and more broad than he was. He was dressed elegantly in shimmering fabrics of golds and oranges and had a crown of golden branches across his forehead. He was glowing, or at least Keith thought he might have been.

 

Shiro moved, drawing Keith’s attention back to reality. Shiro raised his hand in a slow, small wave. Keith frowned, a million thoughts buzzing around his head as to why. Keith and Shiro had encountered each other more times than he could recall, but their meetings were never more than a careful glance towards the other before they took their rule over the sky. This was different. Unknown to him completely but Keith felt something tugging in his chest at the sight of Shiro looking so uncertain of his movements. He was like a statue, frozen with his hand in the air. Keith waved back.

 

Shiro’s uncertainty seemed to melt away as a smile spread across his face. It was small, and half hidden by the way Shiro quickly brought his hand down, holding it in front of his face. His eyes lingered on Keith for another beat, and then he turned away.

 

Keith was unable to move, eyes lingering on the back of Shiro as he continued through the meadow. The colours of the sky had started to fade into blue, and Keith could feel the coolness of night disintegrating with the heat from the sun. It was everything that he didn’t know, and everything he thought he would’ve liked to. He was made for the moon, but the sun seemed to shine on a light on a part of him that he was finally starting the understand. _That’s why,_ he thought. Then, Keith descended back into the shadows.

 

☾☀

Beneath the shadows of the descending sun, Shiro was waiting. He was standing at the peak of the hill, watching the sky tinge a hue of purple as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. He could now see the outline of the moon against the shadowing sky. Soon, Keith would arrive, and night would fully descend upon them.

 

The moon god was something of a force to be reckoned with. Keith was as mysterious as the shadows he pulled over the earth, and Shiro thought he might’ve liked to learn his secrets, to really crack into his core, and let some light shine down on him.

 

There was something unrelenting about the darkness that crowded in around Shiro. It hid the world around him in a thick blanket that would have been impossible to see through had it not been for the moon. The light it gave off was just enough for Shiro to make out the figure moving towards him.

 

The darkness seemed to move around Keith as he climbed the hill, shadows folding into themselves to move with each step Keith took. Shiro felt a chill rush through him at the sight of him. The dark may have hidden Shiro, but he had the distinct impression that he couldn’t hide from Keith here, not in his domain.

 

He came to stand in front of Shiro, removing the hood from his head, revealing a half-crown of winding silver leaves. In the pale glow of the moon, Keith was radiant. His skin seemed to glow and his eyes were as dark as the deep space above them. Shiro might have been made for the sun, but it was the moon he felt pulled towards.

 

“Hello,” Keith said, his voice as calm before a storm, and Shiro felt his skin prickle.

 

“Hello,” Shiro replied, voice as airy as he felt. Keith regarded him for a second, looking him over with a distant frown. His eyes finally met Shiro’s, but his expression didn’t smooth over.

“What are you doing here?”

 

“I wanted to see you again,” Shiro said, “Are you upset that I’m here?”

 

“I’m surprised,” Keith said, “Not upset.” He turned away, raising his arms and closed his eyes. Shiro watched as the last stubborn light finally disintegrated into the shadows. Keith let his arms fall and opened his eyes. Shiro felt a pang in his chest at the darkness of them, at the slight smile on Keith’s lips.

 

Shiro followed his gaze, looking up into the sky and felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight in front of him. The sky was pitch black and clear, allowing the millions of suns to shine through. Shiro looked on in awe. He always knew they were out there, but he never knew they could shine like this, never knew how beautiful they could be with just a bit of darkness.

 

Shiro let out a surprised chuckle, and Keith looked back at him. His expression was endearing, eyes scrunched up as he watched Shiro in confusion.

 

“What?” Keith asked turning to look at Shiro.

 

“I never knew you could see these suns from Earth,” Shiro told him, “I always knew they were there, but,” He shook his head at a loss for words.

 

“They’re small suns?” Keith asked brows raised. With a slight pout, he turned back, craning his neck to look up. “That’s why I could never make them disappear…”  

 

“Why would you want to get rid of them?” Shiro asked, “They’re… beautiful.”

 

“They’re stars,” Keith told him as if that would make a difference.

 

He looked up and wondered how it was that he never knew suns could glow this way. Shiro was familiar with the heat, and the light that it brought. He knew the reflections of colours that he could use to paint the sky. These suns, had they been closer, would have been the same, but they seemed to exist solely for Keith. They peppered the sky with a shimmering glow that was unlike anything Shiro had ever seen.

 

“They’ve always been there,” Keith said as if reading his mind. “Sometimes, things flourish in the dark instead of the light.” Keith looked over at him with something of a smirk on his face. He folded his hands over his chest and raised a brow at him. “Does that scare you?” The way he said it, Shiro thought maybe it should have. He looked back up into the sky, watching the twinkle of the sky above them. 

 

“No,” He said, “I’m not afraid of the dark.”

☾☀

Keith didn’t pretend to like the sun. It was too bright and too hot, and it was everything that he wasn’t. Which was to say that Shiro was everything that Keith wasn’t. But he couldn’t ignore the way the light always struck him, that comfortable warmth that the moon had never given him. It dug deep until it hooked his bones, and Keith thought even if he tried, he wouldn’t have been able to untangle himself from the pull of it’s rays.

 

He also couldn’t ignore Shiro. He was this unrelenting wasp in his brain, buzzing around with the sweetness of honey, but Keith knew danger when he saw it. He knew he was playing with fire. He could feel the power radiating off of Shiro with a warmth that Keith could feel seeping into his skin. One glance and Shiro could’ve ignited Keith until he was nothing but a pile of ashes, but Keith could extinguish Shiro just a quickly with a flick of his wrist.

 

Shiro was probably the worst idea that Keith had had in a long time, but that did nothing to calm the aching of want in his chest.

 

“What are you thinking about?” Shiro asked him. He had a knowing smile on his face, lips stretched so wide that Keith thought he wouldn’t have been able to stop it if he tried.

 

Keith frowned at him. Shiro was sitting out in the sun, head leaned upward, and eyes closed. He was god-like in every sense of the word, and Keith thought he might have hated him for it. He also thought that hate was not the right word for what he felt.  

 

“Why do you think I’m thinking about something?”

 

Keith was comfortably leaning against a large tree, its leaves keeping him in the shade, shielding him from the direct sunlight that Shiro loved so much.

 

“Well, aren’t you?” Shiro asked, sitting up to look at Keith. When Keith didn’t answer right away, he laughed, a sweet sound that had Keith wondering how he ever thought the sun was so bright.

 

“Why are you laughing?” Keith demanded, eyes narrowing in a mock of an aggression he didn’t really feel. Shiro held his hands up in defense.

 

“You brood when you’re deep in thought.” Shiro said like it was a known fact, “it’s amusing.”

 

“Oh, is it.” Keith bit out, but he didn’t think his voice held any real venom.

 

“You don’t have to tell me, don’t worry. But I’ll tell you what I was thinking about,” Shiro began, he leaned back into the grass, crossing his arms under his head, “Don’t you think it’s strange that we’d never spoken before, and now we rarely leave each others company.”

 

“If you want me to go, just say so,” Keith said turning away.

 

“That’s not what I was saying,” Shiro said quickly, sitting up again. There was a sort of nervous energy to him, and Keith couldn’t help but feel the same wariness. But then, Keith thought maybe this anxiety was more from what he was going to say that what he was going to do. Shiro was blazing, but not with fury. “I like being with you. I mean not with you, just, I like having you here.”

 

“I like being here,” Keith said, feeling a warmth in his cheeks that he didn’t think had anything to do with the sun.

 

Maybe it was the way Shiro looked at him with those soft eyes that dwindled the reluctance at the back of Keith’s mind. Maybe it was the way he smiled at Keith without an ounce of fear. Or maybe it was all just wishful thinking…

 

Keith stood. The sun was starting it’s decent behind the clouds, and soon night would fall upon them. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt the wind whisk by, leaving a trail of warm air across his skin. When he opened his eyes, Shiro was watching him.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Keith asked.

 

“Sometimes, you just seem like you’re just as out of reach as the moon,” Shiro told him.

 

Keith looked away. “Sometimes it feels that way.”

 

He thought maybe it didn’t have to. He thought maybe it would have been nice to be known, to have Shiro know him.

 

Keith extended his hand towards Shiro, “Come with me,” he said, “I want to show you something.” If Shiro wasn’t afraid of the dark, then Keith wasn’t afraid of getting burned.

 

☾☀

 

Shiro tried not to focus on where Keith’s fingers tangled with his own. Keith led him through the meadow and deep into the forest just beyond. As they moved, the sky dimmed and the moon appeared before them.

 

When they were in the middle of a small clearing Keith stopped. He turned, eyes meeting Shiro’s, and he thought he saw the hesitation there.

 

“What?” Shiro asked.

 

“I was thinking about what you said, how some things are made for the dark,” Keith said softly. He took Shiro’s hand and made it into a fist. He closed his eyes and wrapped both of his hands around Shiro’s.

 

Shiro watched his face carefully, watching the concentration crease his brows. And then he felt something of a flutter beneath his palm and startled, but Keith held him still. He gently turned Shiro’s palm over, uncurling his fingers. A small creature flew out and buzzed around them.

 

“What is it?” Shiro asked. Keith smiled, something small, and soft, and then the creature began to glow.

 

Shiro stared in wonder.

 

“What’s more suited for the dark than something made of light?” Keith asked.

 

Shiro had the distinct impression that Keith wasn’t just talking about the small creatures buzzings around them.

 

“What do you call them?” Shiro asked.

 

“Fireflies,” Keith said, waving his palm, and with it, more appeared, flashes of light moving around them. They hovered in around Keith, his eyes softened at the small bugs. Keith lifted his hands, allowing them to touch off his fingers. They were hypnotic, capturing all of Shiro’s attention, drawing him further into the shadows, and refusing the let go.  Keith laughed, a quiet sound that caught Shiro off guard. He looked back up to him and felt a pang in his chest. The fireflies seemed to frame Keith’s face, illuminating his dark features with a dim glow. His lips were upturned on one side and his eyes narrowed in amusement at the firefly on his finger. Shiro didn’t know Keith could look like that. Keith looked up and caught Shiro staring, his eyes quickly flashed away, and Shiro felt the warmth of a blush creeping up his neck.

 

“You made them for me?” Shiro asked after a moment. Keith shrugged, the movement sending the fireflies back into the air.

 

“I made them because of you,” Keith said. “Maybe that’s the same thing.”

 

And maybe it was.

 

Shiro didn’t know he could feel like this. His heart had clenched painfully in his chest, and the longer Keith looked at him the tighter it got, but he thought that he might have liked it.

 

Keith looked away then, something of a shadow passing over his face. “You should sleep. You’ve been awake for a long time.”

 

“I’m not tired,” Shiro told him, but a yawn tore through his throat, betraying his facade.

 

Keith huffed an amused laugh. “You should go,”

 

“If I do, will you be here when I get back?” Shiro asked.

 

“Do you want me to be?” Keith countered.

 

“Yes,”

 

Keith’s face broke into a smile, that he tried to bite back. He looked up at Shiro, chewing on his bottom lip, and Shiro knew he was too far gone to ever turn back now.

 

“Then I’ll be here.” Keith said, “Goodnight, Shiro.”

 

“Goodnight, Keith.”

 

He left then, but not before glancing back towards Keith one last time. He was sitting, knees tucked up into his chest, head tilted up to see the stars through the cracks in the trees overhead.

 

His temple was on the other side of the hill. It was small, compared to some, but it was warm and soft, and it was enough for Shiro. He laid down, positioned so that he could see the night sky clearly through the window, and despite the heavy set of his eyelids, Shiro laid awake for hours watching the stars turn and turn and turn.

 

☾☀


	2. The Setting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There,” He said, and Keith followed his finger as he traced a shape in the air. “Leo,” Shiro said, “Lion,”  
> “For me?” Keith whispered.  
> “Who else?” Shiro responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE shout out to Meagan of @keithkcgne on tumblr for giving me the constant motivation/validation that I needed to finish this chapter<3333 
> 
> ~~~~
> 
> I still have to comb through this for mistakes, but it's been so long JUST TAKE IT

☾☀

 

The thing about the sun was that it always stayed the same. It was the one constant in Keith’s life, the one thing he knew would always be there to shine light on the places he tried so hard to shadow. The thing about the sun was that it was Shiro’s. Something about that had Keith’s mind whirling. If not for the way Shiro seemed to uncover him with nothing short of a glance, then for the way Keith didn’t seem to mind when he did.

 

Maybe it was that Keith liked the light more than he let on. The moon, after all, wasn’t so different from the sun. It didn’t hold the same heat, but it held the same radiance, and Keith thought his affection for Shiro was nothing but admiration for painting these morning landscapes.

 

“This is my favourite place for sunrises,” Shiro told him, patting the ground next to him in invitation.

 

But then again, Keith thought, as he went to Shiro’s side, that it was much simpler than that.

 

“You can see everything up here,” he stated. And it was true. From this spot on the mountainside, Keith could see every part of the valley, from the meadows of wildflowers, to the edge of the forests, to the river that separated them from each other.

 

Keith hummed in agreement, and turned back to Shiro. The sky was beginning to lighten, the moon dimming already from the sunlight poking at the edge of the horizon, not for the first time, Keith wondered how Shiro could possibly harness that much power without showing it. He wanted to know if Shiro knew the pain of swallowing starlight. He wanted to know if that ache was burned into his core from pulling the sun through the sky. He wanted to know how he shined so brightly without getting burned.

 

“Can I ask you something,” Keith began, Shiro fully turned towards Keith, and nodded. “Where does it hurt for you?”

 

It was a quite question, something like a secret. They were gods. Pain wasn’t relative to any part of their beings, it was almost laughable, and for a second, Keith thought maybe Shiro would just laugh in his face. But then his face twisted into something like hesitation before he opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

 

Instead, he looked up out, and raised his hand slowly, Keith watched as the sun got brighter and brighter. Keith closed his eyes, allowing the warmth to take the chill away from his skin. When he opened his eyes again, Shiro was watching him closely. He looked transfixed, deep in thought with a frown on his face. He blinked then, and that look of uncertainty was gone.

 

“It’s here,” Shiro said finally, pointing at one of his palms. He trailed his finger lightly across his hand until he’d traced over all of his fingers and back to the center of his hand marking the path of his hurt. “It feels like they’re burning, but, they never actually are.”

 

Keith was quite for a long time, eyes transfixed on the Shiro’s smooth hands. The skin appeared to be soft, and it made sense. The sun would never allow Shiro to be harmed, just as Shiro would never allow it to fall out of the sky.

 

“Where is it for you?” Shiro asked.

 

Keith pointed to his chest, tracing a line, long ago memorized from the persistent ache of too much power. It ran up his shoulders, and back down his arms branching off to each of his fingers with the chill of darkness.

 

“It’s heavy. Like this sinking feeling, and as it gets darker, it turns cold and it feels like my blood is freezing in my veins.”

 

“Is that why you’re always so cold?” Shiro asked. He reached over and took Keith’s hands in his own as if to warm them, though the action brought more warmth to Keith’s ears than his hands.

 

“I guess so.” Keith answered, trying to keep his voice even, “Your hands are warm,”

 

Shiro smiled then, soft and lazy. “Thanks,”

 

Keith studied where his fingers tangled with Shiro’s, where warmth met cold, and he thought nothing had ever felt more right. He looked out, watching the sky swirl with orange, the clouds glowing as rays from the sun cut through them in streams of light. “It’s beautiful,” Keith said softly.

 

“So are you,” Shiro said. Keith’s eyes snapped over to him, and Shiro startled back as if his own words had shocked him more than Keith. Shiro laughed then, pulling his hand away from Keith to rub the back of his neck, as if that would do anything to hide the blush across his cheeks.

 

“You think I’m beautiful?” Keith asked. Shiro caught his breath and looked back at Keith, expression all serious. 

 

“Of course I do, Keith,” he said, voice shaking, “I mean, you’re breathtaking.”

 

Keith couldn’t hold his gaze any longer. His eyes tore away and landed back on the sky, he tried to bite back the smile that was trying so hard to break free.

 

“Thank you,” He said softly, not able to look at Shiro. He felt something brush against his hand and glanced down to see Shiro’s hand inches away from his own. Keith looped his pinky finger with Shiro’s.

 

“Don’t mention it,” Shiro said, and Keith could practically hear the smile in his voice.  

 

☾☀

 

Shiro always knew he fell in love too quickly. He knew it with the steady beat in his chest each time he felt the sun tingle beneath his fingertips, the way the warmth made it ache. To say he loved the sun was too simple. It was more that without the sun, the world would have been without _him._  He might’ve still been here, but he thought he would have been boring. A being with no power. A person with no purpose. The sun was half of his soul, and Shiro wasn’t exactly sure what the other half was, but looking at Keith now, he thought maybe it could have been him.

 

He seemed like something pulled from a daydream, sitting there in the sand, hands absently twirling the grains around, tracing the same circle over and over and over. His eyes were focused on some distant point over the ocean, and there was a slight tug of a smile on his lips, a smile that Shiro had learned meant Keith was thinking of something.

 

“Are you going to tell me what you’re thinking about this time?” Shiro asked lazily.

 

Keith always seemed to be thinking, but he never told Shiro what it was. Not really at least. Shiro could ask, had asked before, but Keith liked to kept his thoughts private.

 

The moon came in phases, shifting its appearance with each passing night so that it was only full once every cycle. Keith was a lot like the moon. He seemed shadowed most of the time, like he was only presenting a fragment of himself, and Shiro didn’t think Keith had ever let him see his full self.

 

Keith hummed, turning his head up towards the sun, where he closed his eyes.

 

“Why do you always ask questions you already know the answer to?” He asked in lieu of a response.

 

“Because,” Shiro said, he shifted, leaning over so that he was laying with his head in Keith’s lap, he waited for Keith took down at him before continuing, “I’m hoping one of these days I’ll be wrong,”

 

Keith’s eyes pinned his breath in his lungs, gaze so intense, but expression so soft. He was an oxymoron. All harsh angles and darkness, filled with nothing but a gentle bite.

 

“Maybe one of these days, you will be,” Keith told him, he reached over, brushing Shiro’s hair from his face. Keith had been spending so much time in the sun, that Shiro could see freckles sprinkled across his nose like cinnamon.

 

“Maybe,” Shiro repeated, leaning into Keith’s palm. His skin was cold against his brow, but Shiro didn’t mind. Keith pulled him in, like the moon pulled the tides, and Shiro didn’t think he could resist the magnetic force of him any longer.

 

“How is it so easy for you?” Keith asked him after a beat of silence.

 

“What?” Shiro asked, opening his eyes.

 

“Being here. With me.” Keith said, averting his gaze. “How are you not afraid?”

 

Shiro sat up so he could look into Keith’s eyes. “How could anyone be afraid of you?” He asked softly. He reached over, gently cupping Keith’s face with one hand to turn his face towards him. “Being here with you, is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

 

“I could hurt you, you know.” Keith said, “The darkness doesn’t give like the sun does,”

 

“You could,” Shiro agreed, “But you haven’t. And you won’t.”

 

Keith seemed startled but those words, eyes blinking wide for a fragment of a second before cooling back into a half-lidded expression. He reached his own hand up, covering Shiro’s with his own.

 

“You are going to burn me alive,” He murmured, and then he was leaning forward, eyes sliding closed, and Shiro followed suit. His lips brushed against Shiro’s softly, testing, and Shiro felt the cold melt away as Keith kissed him with all force of the moon behind him. Shiro was sucked in, drunk off his touch, off the sweetness that was neither cold nor warm, but was _them_ . Time seemed to slow, and all Shiro could focus on was the steady _thud, thud, thud_ of his heart. Shiro knew that the night was beginning, but he didn’t want to let go of the day, he wanted to stay here forever. He wanted to hold onto Keith forever, but Keith pulled away first.

 

Night had descended around them, the darkness pooling in around them like a blanket.

 

“I was thinking about _you_ ,” Keith whispered, forehead resting against Shiro’s, “I’m only ever thinking about you.”

 

Something inside his chest ached with those words. They set a fire in his heart, and Shiro knew that nothing could ever put it out, and so, he leaned forward, and kissed Keith again, again, and again.

 

☾☀

 

Keith wasn’t a stranger to love. Each night, as the dark crowded in and the moon shined down on him, Keith felt that comfortable ache stir up in his stomach. The thing about the way he loved was that it was this quiet, internal thing. His love was his own, one he didn’t have to share, didn’t have to voice out loud for it to be understood.

 

Keith loved Shiro how he loved the moon. Quiet, but deafening. Shiro was a record stuck on repeat set in his brain, and with each second, Keith only memorized the words faster. But Shiro was not the moon. He didn’t know Keith’s love, didn’t know his quiets were filled with the memories of musical laughter. Not if Keith didn’t tell him, and the solution was right there in the problem, but each time Keith opened his mouth the words got stuck in his throat.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want Shiro to know. It wasn’t even that Keith was afraid of saying the words, only that they didn’t seem enough. I love you. Three words with thousands of meanings. The idea of Shiro misinterpreting exactly what he was saying was enough to keep them off of his tongue.

 

“Come with me,” Keith said instead.

 

“Where?” Shiro asked.

 

“To the edge of the universe,”

 

Shiro’s lips broke into that all bright smile, and Keith felt the tug of a melody playing on his heartstrings.

 

“Lead the way.”

 

☾☀

 

Shiro wasn’t sure exactly where they were going, but he knew that he would’ve followed Keith to the ends of the Earth, even if it killed him. If he was with Keith, then nothing else seemed to matter.

 

☾☀

 

Keith brought him to the ocean. The waters were calm, the gentle roll of the tides licking their toes with a chill. Shiro sucked in a breath and jumped next to him, running backward to escape the cold water. Keith laughed, hanging onto his hand to keep him in place.

 

“Let go!” Shiro pleaded, but he was laughing. “It’s freezing!”

 

“Sounds like someone you know,” Keith pointed out, and Shiro stopped tugging backward and come to stand with him, he wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist, ducking down to tuck his chin in Keith’s neck.

 

“At least I can warm you up,” Shiro said. Keith felt warm run through his body. Keith relaxed in Shiro’s touch and sighed.

 

They stood there for a minute, suspended in time. No words exchanged. Nothing but the sound of the rolling tides, and the clear sky of stars above them. Shiro reached down, pulling away from Keith and set his hand in the water. He closed his eyes.

 

Keith felt a pulse in the water at his ankles, and then, slowly, felt the water warm into something less shocking, and more bearable. Shiro stood, glancing at Keith, at the night sky, and back to him.

 

“Up for a swim?”

 

Keith grinned, wild and alive. He looked up at saw the moon, full and looming above them. Then he raced into the water, leaving Shiro to chase behind him.

 

He dove under, allowing the cold to consume him, stealing the air from his lungs. He turned, opening his eyes to a sea of stars above him. He could see how it would have been easy to drown, to forget which way was up, but Keith felt the moon pulling him, and he followed that tug. He broke the surface and saw Shiro making his way out to him, slowly.

 

“You could have waited for me,” Shiro told him with a sly smile.

 

“I thought you were behind me,” Keith stated, moving through the water to get to him.

 

“This water is still freezing,” Shiro stated, as he came up to Keith. Keith laughed, taking his hand.

 

“You get used to it,” He said, “here,” Keith leaned back into the water, and stared up at the night sky. The water was still enough that the constellations reflected against the water, creating the illusion of an endless night sky.

 

Keith felt the water stir next to him as Shiro leaned back, floating next to Keith.

 

“Whoa,” Shiro whispered, the sound muffled by the water surrounding Keith’s ears. Keith turned so that he could peer at him, Shiro’s eyes were wide, mouth parted in awe. “The edge of the universe,” Shiro said, repeating Keith’s words. He pointed up, eyes shining with his finding. “There,” He said, and Keith followed his finger as he traced a shape in the air. “Leo,” Shiro said, “ _Lion_ ,”

 

“For me?” Keith whispered.

 

“Who else?” Shiro responded.

 

☾☀

 

Shiro made a fire to melt the chill away from their bones when they came back to the shore. The sat, limbs tangled together, watching the fire sput hot sparks into the air, before they burned out and floated down in ash.

 

“Tell me how you’re feeling,” Shiro said softly, voice coated with a tiredness from a long day.

 

Keith huffed some sort of dry laugh, that caught Shiro off guard.

 

“What?” Shiro asked.

 

“How I’m feeling,” Keith said, voice trailing off, “It’s a weighted question,”

 

“It’s simple,” Shiro countered, “Feelings are the only things I’m ever sure of,”

 

“It’s not simple, it’s not just like… saying the sky is blue. Yeah, you could be right, but then it’s also pink, and orange, even gray or purple.” Keith explained, and Shiro thought he might’ve understood him a little better then. “So, there are variables. Other things to consider.”

 

“Like what?” Shiro asked,

 

“Like how long until this all goes wrong?” Keith said softly, almost to himself.

 

Shiro turned, pushing himself up onto his knees. “Hold on a minute-.” He started. “What makes you think that?”

 

“I just think this a bad idea,” Keith stated bluntly. “ _You_ are a bad idea.”

 

“Keith,” Shiro said, shaking his head, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

 

“That’s not what I’m afraid of,” Keith said pulling away.

 

“What are you afraid of?” Shiro asked,

 

Keith didn’t answer.

 

“Don’t do that,” Shiro told him.

 

“Do what?” Keith asked.

 

“Go where I can’t follow you,”

 

“I’m right here,” Keith stated.

 

“Not all of you,” Shiro told him. Because he could see the distance in his eyes, see a void that was emptier than it had been that morning. There was so much about him that Shiro didn’t understand, couldn’t come to know on his own, but if Keith thought he could be scared away with words sharp as steel than he was wrong. Shiro knew his feelings, knew the love that coursed through his veins like a second heartbeat, and if Keith felt half of what Shiro felt for him, well, then Shiro thought Keith might’ve just been in a bit too much pain, and he was determined to ease some of it.

 

☾☀

 

Keith wanted more than anything for Shiro to know how he felt. If he could, he would have given him his heart, so that Shiro could see exactly how it beat for him, show him so that he didn’t have to say it.

 

But Shiro had wanted the words, words that Keith couldn’t bring himself to give just yet. But, it seemed, judging by how Shiro was leaning against his shoulder, that he would wait as long as it took.

 

 _What are you afraid of?_ Shiro has asked. _This._ Keith thought, but he couldn’t say it, because no matter how much it scared him, no matter how much his gut told him to run, to not look back, that Shiro was an unattainable dream, it wasn’t quite loud enough for him to want to let it go.

 

So he held on, took Shiro’s hand in his and kissed him. Kissed him like he could convey his feelings through actions alone, and Shiro seemed to melt in his hands, his lips were warm and soft pressed against his. Keith cupped his cheek with his palm, pulling away slowly. He looked into Shiro’s eye, and felt tethered there.

 

“I know,” Shiro said, voice barely a whisper. Two words. Less than three, but holding the same weight. And Keith thought that maybe he did, and that if he didn’t, he would come to. Because Shiro was here, _had been_ here. “I love you, too,”

 

And it was like their fate lines were tied together, and Keith thought maybe Shiro would have waited as long as it took for Keith to find the words he so desperately wished he could’ve said.

 

☾☀

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's getting angsty kids, hold on tight..


	3. The Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Love was not something Keith could explain. It’s not the pain that Shiro talked about, he doesn’t feel the aches or the chill... For him, it’s this burning blaze of persistent agony and Keith doesn’t know how to stop it, and he doesn’t think he wants to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't combed through this yet, but TAKE IT

☾☀

 

The chill hadn’t faded from Shiro’s body yet. It clung to his bones, a frosted ache where Keith’s hands had once been. He could feel the press of fingertips over his ribs, feel his palms against his cheeks. The bite of his kiss lingered on his lips, and it was as disorienting as it was addicting. Keith was a planet that Shiro didn’t think he could ever stop revolving around, and Keith may have been nothing but a dark place that Shiro reflected into, but he thought maybe that light was rubbing off on him.

 

Keith didn’t burn, not the way Shiro did. His love was frostbite, cold and overwhelming, but Shiro was lovesick. The chill had settled in and he didn’t think it could ever be pulled from his veins. When it came to love Shiro was all in, when it came to love, Shiro was a goner. 

 

Keith stored his feelings in an ice sculpture tucked deep inside his chest, but if Shiro had been frozen, he thought maybe he’d defrosted Keith’s heart. The words had been stuck in his throat, but his actions had been loud enough, and Shiro had heard him loud and clear with each gentle brush of lips.

 

“Tell me again,” Keith whispered against his forehead, Shiro turned so that he was facing him, he tucked a piece of hair out of his eyes, watching them glistening gold in rising sun.

 

“I,” Shiro said slowly, leaning in the trail a kiss across his brow, “love,” he continued, placing a small kiss beside his lips, “you,” He finished, but held still, hovering in front of Keith’s face. Keith watched him carefully as if trying to understand the words, as if they weren’t as simple, as if Shiro’s love for Keith could have been nothing but empty words.

 

“You don’t even know what love is,” Keith said softly against his lips. Shiro’s leaned back, opening his eyes.

 

“I do,” He insisted, he took Keith’s hand, and rested it against his chest, “It’s here,” he whispered, then brought it up to his lips, placing a ghost of a kiss to Keith’s fingers, “and here,” he said, then brought their hands to the side, to cup his face, “And here,” He brought it back down, taking Keith’s other hand in his, and holding them both in front of him. “It’s  _ everywhere _ ,”

 

Keith was quiet, staring at the place their fingers tangled together with a firm fixation. His eyes had gone hazy, cold growing over the warmth that seemed to reside there, and Shiro thought he looked farther than he’d ever been on that hillside. 

 

“ _ What _ is?” Keith whispered finally.

 

“It’s this ache,” Shiro answered, trailing his thumb across the back of Keith’s palm,  “It’s this chill in my bones that doesn’t ever warm.”

 

“Love isn’t supposed to hurt,” Keith told him.

 

“Then what is it supposed to do?” Shiro asked. Keith finally pulled his eyes away from their hands to meet Shiro’s.

 

“I’m not sure yet.” 

 

☾☀

 

Keith burned. Fire licked at his fingertips with an unrelenting fever, and no matter how shaded Keith remained, the warmth persisted. He felt like he was burning alive, and every time Shiro smiled at him, Keith thought he might have understood the pain that he had spoken about, except Keith didn’t know how love and agony could be the same thing.

 

So he does the only thing he can, and he goes. Goes where Shiro can’t follow, where Shiro asked him not to go. But if Keith couldn’t handle this pain, then what would happen to him when Shiro left first? What would be left of him to burn after that?

 

The morning comes, and Keith can see Shiro’s face in his mind, see that smile melting from with face with molten anguish, and he hopes that one day, he will be able to forgive himself for it.

~

When night falls, Keith wishes it hadn’t. The shadows pulled over, the chill nipping at his nose, but not quite strong enough to completely warm his cheeks. He looked up and felt his heart drop into his stomach.

 

It looked like the sky was falling, and that was because it was. The stars were raining down, following out of orbit one and another and Keith had a horrible sinking feeling in his chest, because, despite the beauty of it, he knew the pain that had caused them to fall.

 

He stood, and let his feet carry him to the center of that ache. Let himself burn away in the anguish he had caused.

 

He found Shiro on this hilltop in the meadow. He was kneeling, palms outstretched in front of him.

 

“Are you okay?” Keith asked.

 

Shiro didn’t answer right away, but when he did it was in a voice coated in artificial sweetness. “yeah,”

 

“The stars are falling. Hundreds of them.”

 

“I know.” Shiro said, “I feel it.”

 

“What’s happening?”

 

“I can’t hang onto them,” Shiro said, shaking his head, “It’s like my fingers are too-.”

 

His voice cut out, and he glanced at Keith, and Keith saw the pain that was ridden in his red-rimmed eyes. Keith knelt down next to him, and pulled his hands into his own. He felt it right away, the word that Shiro was left unsaid was right there in his palms.  _ Cold.  _

 

But where Shiro had turned cold, Keith was on fire. His heard blazed and sunk and bled for that look of pure sorrows on Shiro’s face, and if Keith never had to see it again, he would do absolutely anything he had to do.

 

“Here,” Keith murmured, needing to fill the silence, he shifted, leaning into Shiro, wrapping his arms around his shivering body, tucking his head into his chest and cradling him there.

 

And maybe it was always meant to end like this. Maybe there were always going to be too out of reach Maybe Shiro was always going to go out wind up in the cold, and maybe Keith was always going to burn to nothing before he hit the ground.

 

Maybe they were destined to revolve around each other, always just a bit out a reach.

 

But then Shiro was leaning into Keith and felt that old familiar chill hit against his chest, and it was like everything he’d ever known was rushing back to him, only this time it was paired with everything that he’d come to know.

 

He pulled Shiro’s face from his chst, and held his cheeks in his palms.

 

“Hey,” Keith said softly. Shiro gazed up at him, with a weary frown. “It’s going to be alright,”

 

“How can you possibly know that…” Shiro whispered, “You didn’t drop the moon,”

 

“They aren’t falling because of you,” Keith told him, “They’re falling because of  _ us _ ,”

 

Shiro blinked at him, then back at the sky. “How do you know?”

 

“I feel it too.” Keith said, “I thought I was burning inside out.”

 

“You didn’t tell me that,”

 

“I didn’t know what it was. But now I do.” Keith told him, he leaned down close so that their foreheads were touching, “It’s love,”

 

And then something changes. Shiro stills, eyes searching Keith’s face, and then, his lips turn upwards, and it’s like all the warmth in the sky rushed back to him.

 

“Love,” Shiro repeated, and Keith nodded. 

 

“I love you,” Keith told him, and then he closed the gap between them, and warmth met cold once again, only this time, Keith wasn’t sure which one he was, or if it even mattered.

 

☾☀

 

The words linger in Shiro’s mind. They repeat themselves over and over and over, until Shiro realizes they aren’t just in his mind, that Keith is there, and he is whispering those sweet nothings into hair, his lips, his neck… 

 

Keith’s lips are warm against his skin, a jolt of electricity that fuels the starved energy of their love, and Shiro didn’t think he could exactly explain those feelings that had once ran hot, then turned icy, or how now they seemed to co-exist inside him as if Keith was as much a part of him and he was himself.

 

And as the sun sets beyond the horizon, Shiro doesn’t worry about the uncertainty of night because it doesn’t feel so dark anymore. He doesn’t feel so cold without the pull from the sun, and he thinks maybe that’s because it lives inside Keith now. It lives there with his doubt, and his fears, but also with his calm, and his security.  So Shiro kisses away Keith’s fears and pulls him into a gentle morning with the warmth of a waking moon.

 

Some mornings Keith will hold onto his darkness, and will away the light. He'll beg for just a few more minutes to stay nestled in Shiro’s chest, and some mornings, when the cold is just too bitter, Shiro will allow them those minutes to exist where they don’t. And if Shiro hadn’t known what love was before, he knew now.

 

He had been right about the pain, the ache that never settled, but he’d been missing the most important part. The part that left you warmth, that dulled the ache into a flutter of wings. 

 

Shiro can tell that Keith doesn’t know how to explain it with words, and Shiro thinks maybe he gets closer with each passing day. But until then, he’s content to lay tangled in Keith’s arms and watch the sky ignite, from sunrise to starshine, from now, to the end of eternity.

 

☾☀

 

Love was not something Keith could explain. It’s not the pain that Shiro talked about, he doesn’t feel the aches, or the chill... For him, it’s this burning blaze of persistent agony and Keith doesn’t know how to stop it, and he doesn’t think he wants to.

 

It exists in the deepest parts of himself, places Keith didn’t think the sun could ever warm. Only now it’s on fire, burning to nothing but ashes that he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to rise from when this is all over.

 

Because eventually, all fires go out. Shiro would grow too cold. He would miss the sun. He would leave. He will leave.

 

But with each passing night, he is there. Smiling like the pain he speaks of exists in a place that doesn’t affect him the way it does Keith. He stands there with that smile that makes the sun look like nothing but a far away star, and he says,

 

“Hello again,”

 

And Keith replies,

 

“Hello,”

 

And sometimes he’ll kiss him into senselessness and sometimes he will take his hand, only now Keith can feel the chill of his love in Shiro’s fingertips, the same way he can feel the burn of Shiro’s in his own.

 

And Keith knows that they are intertwined in every sense of the word. It was like Shiro had written it into the stars, and Keith had pulled him in with the tides, and it was always going to end like this, not with them apart, but with them as the moon, the sun, and everything else in between.

 

☾☀

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking this out with me<3 I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!


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